


A Stitch In Time

by Leonawriter



Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist
Genre: Canon - Anime, Gen, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-28
Updated: 2014-03-29
Packaged: 2018-01-17 09:00:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1381630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leonawriter/pseuds/Leonawriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set (for Yukio) some months after the anime ending. He wakes up one day in the dorm, but things don’t feel right. More importantly, his demonic features have disappeared. After checking the date, he quickly realises that there’s somewhere he’s needed - and urgently.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

He'd woken up in his chair in the dorm, as though he'd just taken a moment to rest and hadn't been able to get back up again, and it wasn't as though _that_ hadn't happened before.

It must have been the sunlight coming through the window that'd done the trick. Streaming straight into his eyes, his glasses hanging precariously from his hand. Funny, that, how even becoming a demon hadn't done anything to help his vision. He was still as good as blind as a bat without them. A fact that he was using to, at first, excuse the odd state of the dorm.

He and Rin hadn't moved dorms when entering into their second year at True Cross, of course. And they hadn't taken too much with them when they'd spent the break back home at the monastery.

So why, then, were there boxes stacked up, as though no one had ever lived here yet since the last time the dorm was used by anyone other than two half-human sons of Satan?

He managed to put his glasses on, and the vision of boxes waiting to be unpacked didn't vanish. He rubbed at his eyes.  Still nothing changed.

With a sigh, he got up and out of the chair, stretching, only to wobble off balance at the feeling of something _lost_.

What, though?

What could cause him to...?

He patted at his back, confused when he didn't feel the familiar lump of his tail underneath his shirt, the same way Rin used to hide his when he still bothered. His hands went lower, and he found himself trying not to panic - it wasn't there at all.

No tail.

He immediately reached up to his ears, tongue flicking to his teeth. Results all negative.

Somehow, he was _human_ again.

Yukio reached for his phone, pressing the button to wake it up again, finding that it was still the middle of the morning.

But the _date_ was what confused him. His phone must have glitched somehow, or been addled with. There was no way it was... what?

A year ago? April again? Even the day was wrong. It didn't make _sense_.

Maybe he was still dreaming. Dreams normally didn't make sense, and besides, most of the time he _still_ didn't see himself as a demon in his own dreams. Not unless they were nightmares.

Yet, at the same time, something didn't add up.

Something about the date had caught at him, and wouldn't let go. As he scrolled aimlessly down his contacts list and still only saw Rin's number and a handful of others, it continued to nag at him.

And then, he realised.

Father Fujimoto's number was still on the phone.

_Well, well well~ Isn't this interesting, hm?_

_I could do something about that, you know._

_A little time. Just a bit. And it's up to you what you do with it._

_After all, don't you want-_

His phone dropped from his hand, the noise it made hitting the floor snatching him loose from the odd, intrusive words in his head that his mind seemed to keep trying to tell him were _memories_.

They couldn't possibly be. He'd never have allowed that to happen.

_And maybe that's why you're here_ , said a voice in his head that sounded far more like his own.

He didn't need to think - not this time. The actions of putting on his exorcist's coat were second nature to him, even in this younger body, and took moments. His phone was picked up and pocketed. Guns were loaded and readied, just in case.

He was out of the dorm and into the open within minutes, and plead emergency exorcist's business to get quickly onto the earliest train he could.

How long did it take to get from the Academy to the town? Fifteen minutes? Thirty? It felt like hours, and hours he _did not have_.

He should never have left. His younger self couldn't have known, and had naively thought that Rin would be able to stay the way he was for as long as no one triggered anything unwanted. They should have known better.

His worries caused him to have butterflies in his stomach, but there was nothing to do about it until the train doors opened at the other end and he came hurtling out at top speed, as fast as he could towards home. He didn't know how he'd react to seeing their father alive again after so long without him, or seeing Rin _human_ , or mostly human, after getting used to his brother as a demon.

That didn't matter. The fact that he could see the gates did.

The fact that he could see Rin, still in his suit, did.

The fact that he could see their father squashing that Coal Tar between his fingers...

They should have been more _careful_ , damn it.

"Nii-san! NII-SAN!"

Rin turned around in surprise - as did Father Fujimoto, who did a spit-take at seeing Yukio dressed in such a way, in full view no less - and immediately started asking him questions. Why was Yukio dressed so weirdly, why was he calling for Rin, why was he there at all?

He didn't listen to any of them, or the looks Father Fujimoto was sending him, instead grabbing at his brother's arm.

"You can't go."

"W-what? Why not?! I even got this thing on!" he said, pointing at the suit in general, and more specifically the tie, which he knew damn well was their father's doing.

"We need to get back inside," was all he said. "We'll have to rearrange the interview... if possible. I'm sure they'll understand."

"Damn it, Yukio, that doesn't explain anything!"

His breath hitched. In what he was used to, that would have been accompanied by a flare-up of blue fire. Here and now, it wasn't. But the hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and he remembered what had happened the morning Rin had come home just a few 'days' ago.

The heater had almost exploded with blue fire, a sure sign that things were about to get complicated that no one had paid enough attention to.

"...Nii-san. _Please_."

Rin grunted, slouching and glaring, but finally did as he was told. He'd become far too used to Rin trusting his judgement - it would take some time to get used to that not being the case for a while yet, and that wasn't even taking into consideration whether or not he'd be telling Rin, let alone anyone else, about everything he remembered going through.

"You'd better have a good reason for this, Yukio."

He inhaled sharply at the man's voice, but nodded.

"We have to talk," he found himself saying as he glanced around.

Nothing. Nothing was there. For some reason, he'd expected there to be more than just the odd Coal Tar, and he remembered it being colder than this.

"He's awakening," he said as soon as they were in private. "We should have taken more notice this morning, when the heater flared up. Why didn't we?"

He hesitated, momentarily forgetting that he didn't have a tail allowing his worry and agitation to be shown for all to see, forgetting that he didn't need to hide it further inside his coat or shove it up his shirt.

"And this was enough to come back like that?"

Father trusted his judgement, but he could only too well understand his feelings on the matter here.

"Sir Pheles," he said, and it wasn't _entirely_ a lie, and he was sure that should he explain the matter to the demon he'd be backed up on it, "tipped me off that there had been interest recently."

"I was going to follow him once I saw he was seeing the demons nearby! You think I wasn't going to keep an eye out after all that?"

"We both know my brother. He wouldn't even have reached the _interview_ without attracting attention. Knowing him... some low-level demon would have found him, caused trouble, nii-san would have felt endangered enough to flare up before you could get there to help... and the truth would have hit him in the wake of everything. Do you _really_ think that would have ended well?"

Father Fujimoto was staring at him, perhaps wondering how Yukio could have thought up such a detailed scenario, perhaps simply imagining it for himself and seeing the inevitable consequences in his mind's eye.

"Hn. Alright then - what do _you_ suggest?"

A million scenarios flashed in front of Yukio's eyes. His brother never drawing the sword. Never drawing it and being killed because of that. Drawing the sword later on, and still getting treated as he later would be. The knowledge - beyond a shadow of a doubt - that his own awakening would happen as an inevitability, within the _year_ , potentially putting him in the same position as his brother.

"Yukio?"

He hadn't even realised he'd been clenching his hand so tightly, and it took some effort to relax.

"Rin... he's already seen me like this. He's already going to be asking questions because I came back like that." He got a snort in response. "Hiding won't work any more. It would be nice - and easier - if it did, but it won't."

He could already see the questions in his father's eyes, and he hated that he couldn't, yet, be entirely honest.

He breathed in, deeply, and let it out.

"Telling him to run won't work either."

Because Rin never ran from anything. And he'd always wonder if he'd even been _wanted._

"We'll have to tell him the truth. About our parents. The sword. The exorcists. Everything. Because... even though he might not act like it, he's old enough that he _needs_ to decide for himself what he's doing with his life."

Yukio remembered Rin telling him that he'd wanted to become an exorcist to be stronger, so that people wouldn't be hurt. He remembered Rin making friends, for the first time. He remembered Rin growing up, and becoming more of a big brother than he'd ever expected him to be.

Maybe it wasn't the right path. Maybe it hadn't been a painless one. But in the end, for the both of them, it had been a _good_ one...

...up until the end. The end he didn't like to think about.

_-to save your brother from that sort of fate... hm?_

Mephisto hadn't done what he'd done out of misplaced kindness. Yukio wasn't deluded enough to think that. But in their own ways, they were using each other, and for that, for _Rin_ , Yukio was fine with it all.

Father Fujimoto crossed his arms with a frown.

"Looks to me like there's a few things you're not telling me about all this," he said.  Yukio swallowed, not wanting to be asked, because he wouldn't know how to answer.  "And you've grown up pretty damn quickly for just a few hours away."  His heart nearly stopped. "But you've got good points," the man conceded. "I'll think about it."

Yukio sighed, not entirely from relief, as some of the tension lifted from his shoulders and he turned away, reaching to open the door.

The door that hadn't been shut properly, because he'd assumed Rin would have gone straight back to his room to take off the suit. He'd been focused on more important things as well - such as making sure he didn't nearly die, or get awakened, or worse.

He pushed it open with dread, not wanting to see but unable to close his eyes.

Rin was there.

Staring at them, both of them, in disbelief. Numb _horror_.

Yukio was reminded of his own reaction when he'd first noticed his masshou inching its way down his arm.

"Nii-san...!"

Rin fled, and Yukio said the only thing he could think of in this situation.

" _Crap_."


	2. Mending Threads

"Nii-san!"

Rin didn't appear to be hearing him. Either that, or he was ignoring Yukio on purpose. Both of which were equally possible, given what his brother had just heard.

At least, until they reached their room - just as he remembered it, still with stuff piled around on Rin's side, and a few of his own possessions still there, so that he wouldn't have absolutely nothing in the period between now and when the new term started and they - he, at this point, and it could well even _stay_ that way, which... was odd to say the least of it - would move into a new dorm.

He stuck a foot in the door, to make sure he wouldn't be locked out, and although it looked like Rin might've wanted to, he'd somehow ended up on his bunk instead, knees up to his chest.

"Go away."

Yukio sighed, sure that this was going to be a headache and a half in the making.

"I'm afraid that's not going to happen, nii-san."

Rin grunted, and sent him a glare. Its effect was lessened in Yukio's opinion by the lack of pointed ears and fangs, but that wasn't anything Rin could help.

"Then you c'n at least tell me why you're dressed all- all _weird_."

He heard footsteps coming from the hall and turned to look out, to find Father Fujimoto watching him with no small amount of concern. Yukio hesitated for a moment before putting a finger to his lips and giving their father a quiet, if insistent, "Let me handle it."

The man frowned, but nodded. And with that, he walked away - ostensibly to give them some privacy, but potentially to do other things as well. He didn't know what they might be. They'd never had the time to find out.

And then, Yukio closed the door, drew up his chair, and sat down.

"It's a long story," Yukio said, steepling his fingers in front of him. "But the short version is," before Rin could butt in as he saw that he was about to, "I'm an exorcist, like Father. And I have been for several years now."

The look on his older brother's face made him wish he'd thought to bring a camera - or that it was the kind of moment when such a thing wouldn't be obscenely out of place.

"I became one," he continued when it seemed Rin wasn't going to say anything in response to that yet, "because I've been able to see demons for as long as I can remember."

"But-! They're just _imaginary_ , they're not _real-_ "

"Then tell me what that thing was that you saw on your way out of the monastery earlier."

"I-"

"It was a Coal Tar. A type of demon." He could see the disbelief setting in, but he had to get it all out now, before he had the chance to back away from it. He _had_ to. "And there's more."

He breathed in, hands clenching even though he tried forcing them to relax.

And he continued. He told Rin everything. In the privacy of their room, there were no demons waiting to overhear, no traitors willing to pass messages across to either side.

He explained why he'd come dressed like this, the fact that he had guns, and that _Rin_ was the one who potentially would have needed rescuing, despite how strong he was. He unloaded the heavy truth of their parentage like a plaster off a wound, not having needed to before and finding the words hard to get out, yet once they were, the air felt cleaner.

Rin took some things better than others. The fact that he was so accomplished already brought badly hidden (if at all) pride, but other things drew out anger, shouting, and cutting words.

_"If father could ever be said to have one weakness, it was you. You said something, didn't you... nii-san?"_

He could still remember the words coming from his own mouth, and going through things with Rin at the same point here and now, he could well see how it might have turned out that way. With only Father Fujimoto to confront him on the matter, with no time to think and reflect on what he was hearing, being told to _run, now_... that would cause a particularly cruel outburst.

 _No better than me, when we first confronted each other on the matter,_ he thought to himself with an internal wince. Even if his words had been true, his emotions had clouded his judgement, making him say and do things he'd never have done otherwise - like point a gun at his brother's head.

Rin didn't storm off, though, thankfully enough. Although the quiet slump once Yukio got to the end was worrying enough.

He hadn't even told him any of the _real_ secrets, the ones he was currently keeping even from Father. One set of shocks at a time was more than enough... and even then, he'd only tell Rin if and when he thought Rin was _ready_ for them.

Which certainly wasn't now.

"...what... what do we do, Yukio?" His head snapped up at the bewildered tone, scared to think that a year's difference technically made him older, scared in a moment to feel like he was being _treated_ like that. "What do we do now?"

He hesitated.

"Well," he said at last in a cheerful tone he didn't feel, "for one thing, I'm staying right here for now. It's dangerous to leave you on your own."

The words mirrored some very similar ones he'd said to Rin right after that first 'class', when they'd found their dorm. Although this time-

"Gh-! What is this, you're being my jailor now or something?!"

He laughed. Same old Rin.

"Mm. Something like that."

"GAH, YOU-!"

Yukio waited until the indignant shouts died off into grumbling to say anything else.

"If there's anything further that you want to know... I'll be here, and you can ask me. Got it?"

Rin grunted, and he took that to be a 'yes'... and idly wondered if his experience in teaching the exorcist cram school demon pharmaceuticals class would still come in handy. After all, with their father alive...

He sighed, and settled himself down. Best to leave that sort of thing until it could be dealt with. After all, if Rin no longer had to choose between becoming an exorcist and dying in different ways, it might not be something he had to worry about so much, even if he would miss seeing the other exwires - currently, not even pages - outside of normal Academy classes.

...

"I've decided!"

It was breakfast two days later, and the loud exclamation could be heard from one end of the table to the other.

Rin had taken, after a discussion with Father Fujimoto, to wearing the Kurikara on his back just like Yukio remembered, although this time it was more for the reassurance and the knowledge that it would be harder to take from him that way than otherwise, rather than it being easier to take off and _use_ from there. Hopefully, he'd start realising that using the key to hide it away was just as good, but... perhaps that might take a while.

Thankfully, Rin had been told repeatedly until it'd sunk in just how important it was _not to draw the sword._ So there wouldn't, at least, be an _accidental_ awakening. That, would just be embarrassing.

They turned to him, and Yukio was rather worried to find a familiar, determined expression on his brother's face.

"I'm going to be an exorcist!"

Well, at least he wasn't the _only_ one fighting to get his breathing back having almost choked at the revelation.

As soon as he had his breath back, he groaned.

He really, _really_ , should have seen this coming.

...

AN: Okay, so _I lied._ I started thinking out how things would go with a few people on Tumblr, and future situations and scenarios, and decided I wanted to give a _bit_ more context.

I have maybe one, two at most, other scenes I could do that would be plot-relevant in the same way as this, but I don't yet know how I'd write them. So I'm not editing the 'complete' just yet, since I might yet leave this, the main story, as it is.

**Author's Note:**

> AN: For the AU/Fic, it’s assumed that something else came up and Rin either died or something happened to him that was irreversible. Thus Mephisto wanting Rin alive for both personal reasons and to fulfill his plans, and Yukio just wanting his brother back.
> 
> As an aside, Yukio is technically 16 here.


End file.
